"I am most impressed with you Bria and Sahi. I apologize for the hardships you might have experienced as members of the lower branches. It is not my intent for there to be a difference in resources because we are all one family in the end. From what I have witnessed of Gatse's forces, I need to make more of an effort in destroying this division among us. If you have any suggestions, I would like your input before you depart for Tabanos."
Shuyren takes each of their hands individually, a soft green glow pulsing upon contact. They all feel like Shuyren can now see into their past, present, and future. However, in each of their hands is a clear crystal.
"The knowledge I am about to impart to you has the ability to make our clan royalty. It is something simple but absolutely life-changing," Shuyren says softly.
The pressure they feel lightens just so but instead of being comforted by this fact, they're more inclined to focus on her words. Shuyren telepathically passes on the first set of instructions Tara had given her those months ago. Neijin's crystal was so bright it was like a miniature sun with Yangling also having an affinity for solar energy. The other three crystals all blazed with turquoise light.
"This is the most precious secret we discovered during the ruin expedition. From this you will grow well beyond your current stage and achieve great things. I will personally teach those of you who use lunar energy while Lady Di will train those of you who have solar. The next few weeks will be very intense but in the future, you will thank us for the Hell you're about to experience."
Tara can't help but feel bad for them as she returns to her room. Her three students of Zewan, Chun, and Niven were blessed with Tara taking her time and being patient. Her maternal figures would not be kind when integrating them with what they knew. Many harsh and painful days lie ahead in the next few weeks.
Tara's first thought upon entering her room is to go to bed. Her second thought is to meditate more on her battle with Neijin. Combining moves had been a spur of the moment thing but the effects had shown to be tremendous!
The attack had been twin folded, more powerful than what she had expected and that was without any real training with Sun Piercer or Moon Cleaver, two of the moves she had viewed from the ancient memories. Tara makes her choice and begins to meditate in her bed.
The final month seems to stretch for Tara. Some days she meditates and takes notes, other days she helps build weapons and even moves onto making armor! During this time, in the Adventure server, the very first Level 5 players emerge!
When she was teaching Zawen and Chun their last lessons, Neijin and the group would listen in, thankful for Tara's gentle explanations. Neijin and Niven every visit would always coax Tara into fighting just to help them confirm things about the Combat Arts. Facing their attacks, Tara's own understanding towards Ember Gather and Rain Scatter grew. Just a bit more and she could use both skills completely without aura.
There was one thing that was frustrating. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get past the pink barrier that had appeared in her mind. It seemed that she wasn't strong enough yet. Maybe when she became a low tier Blood Directing? While her growth had been huge, it would take a while to reach the next stage.
When she awakens two days before departure, Tara finds a ring on her nightstand. It was a spatial ring that was snow white! Tara peeks inside to find some empty diamond scrolls, a box, and a note! The box gives off a wild presence, making Tara certain those were the weapons Elder Zaigo had made! Tara quickly scans the note. In the next breath, she slips on the ring and races out towards the islet in the middle of the creek. Sitting underneath the tree was her mother.
"I've been thinking about how I'd challenge you one last time before you left," Di rises as Tara arrives, drawing a line behind her in the ground with her foot, "And I figured let's go with how this all started. If you can move me past this line, I'll give you the book I found."
At the thought of the book, Tara feels her spiritual energy shift against her own will. The ball of black within the indigo ancient spirit energy seems to react. Whatever was in that tome was very important to it! Tara circulates her energies as much as possible as Di's aura waves over her. Di isn't holding back and she wouldn't either! Tara pulls her Twin Sphere daggers and rushes at her mom. Her white aural flames and foam collide with Di's strong aural energy and even stronger body.
Tara attacks from every angle using all of her skills which Di deflects or tears right through them, even Sun Piercer and Moon Cleaver, her two strongest moves.
"Is this all the strongest of your generation amounts to?" Di teases, "And even after Elder Zaigo put all that effort into making you a weapon with Soul Beads!"
Tara understands that Di was attempting to egg her on, yet she still hesitates. The note Shuyren left her spoke of two things: one, that Di wished for one more practice session before she left and two, that the daggers within the box were very powerful to the point that Shuyren had to use her full strength to confine them. Nobody knew what a weapon formed around a Soul Bead could do! Especially when they had used the strange ore they found from an ancient maze as the base.
But she would have to use them eventually, so the earlier the better. Tara puts away the simple lunar dagger and in its place appears something much more intricate than Tara could dream of!
The square Soul Bead is adorned in the center of the turquoise hilt. The blade is cobalt like the ore, the back aligned straight with the hilt and the edge in a crescent shape. Instead of a guard, it's curved blade is serrated, giving it a fang-like appearance.
The moment Tara grips the weapon several things happen at once: first, her bracelet made of the Tiger's fang turns turquoise in color. Secondly, she feels a powerful psychic energy echo into her mind from the Soul Beads like the roar of a living beast. Then, finally, she feels her spiritual energy coil itself around the dagger.
Uncertain of what exactly was happening, Tara acts first and promises to figure it out later. What she needs now is to win this challenge and get that book! Tara focuses all the lunar energy into the blade, combining Rain Scatter's white foam with Moon Cleaver's turquoise light.
The image of a giant tiger's maw rockets forward with her swipe. In response, Di fires out a Sun Piercer but it is engulfed by the lunar energies being boosted by the Soul Bead! Though Di was able to shrug off an attack on her mind because of the difference of stages, she skids well past the line. Something causes her spiritual energy to become chaotic and her aura flickers before it stabilizes.
Tara grins at having won, but her vision starts swimming before it turns black. The system is entering rest mode. Di catches just as Tara is about to fall to the ground. Di goes to wretch the new dagger away from Tara but to her surprise it has vanished from sight. Caring more about Tara having overdrawn herself, Di uses Sunny Dance to bring her to Shuyren concerned.
After being thoroughly examined, Tara merely over exhausted her psychic and spiritual energies. Some good rest was all she needed. Di doesn't mention Tara's weapon disappearing so as not to worry her grandmother more than necessary.
Tara's mind is forcibly pushed from the game as a small change occurs. Surprised, Tara goes to her room to check her character page and checks her equipment:
Unnamed Dagger 1 (Equipped) [Bound] | Unnamed Dagger 2 (Equip Scenario Not Met) [Bound]> Tara finds that both her new weapons carry the Bound property. "An item that is Bound can't be dropped or traded. Some Bound objects have hidden properties the user can discover. Wow! And I have two of them!" Tara's eyes at the little section on the horizontal sidebar. It read [A: Day 26] and [V: Week 26]. This indicates that the first month was almost over within Adventure mode whereas 6 months has passed in Story mode. From what Renee and Qisma told her the first Level 5 players should appear today. At that moment the small update finishes. Tara grins as she goes to finish her session. When Tara re-enters, she sleeps through the rest of the day unaware that during nightfall a change had occurred within her soul. Hovering within her hub of spiritual energy was her new dagger. The crystal in the center of the hilt glows with a turquoise and cobalt blue light. Tara rises without a clue of what rests within her navel. In truth, even having slept yesterday away, she is still groggy despite being in a game. Her sleepiness shifts into a charged excitement as she recalls the last thing she saw! Tara had actually beat Di's challenge! It was all thanks to Moon Fang, the name of her new dagger, but when she went to grab it from her ring it was missing! Tara immediately starts panicking as she searches her room. Maybe her mother had confiscated it afterwards? She passed out after using it and so many strange things happened when she wielded it. Maybe Di and Shuyren had decided it was too dangerous! Had they taken her other dagger as well? No, after checking the ring, the other was still in the box. This dagger had a round Soul Bead as a pommel with an amber guard on the hilt and a saw-like phlox blade. After seeing how Moon Fang had reacted in her hands, Tara doesn't immediately take out what she's calling Sun Claw. Instead she really wishes she could find Moon Fang and figure out what had occurred. A peculiar thing happens with that thought: even though she's passively rotating her energies, her spiritual energy suddenly revolves for a second causing Moon Fang to appear in her hand. Tara's bewildered that she simply summons her weapon from seemingly nowhere. Her fang bracelet reacts again by pulling in lunar energy from the air faster than when she processes idly. Tara dispels the dagger with another thought and the inscription on the jewelry falls dark. Within the space where her spiritual energy resides Moon Fang but something was missing. Floating above the weapon is a marble made two shades of blue, turquoise and cobalt. This was the Soul Bead. Tara calls Moon Fang from her soul space. Looking at the square stone that once held an aural beast soul, it has now become a piece of decoration. Lunar energy soon rapidly starts being pulled into her bracelet and into the Soul Bead within her soul. The absorption stops only when Tara returns the weapon to her soul space. Tara takes a moment to think. What she knew was that lunar energy was similar to psychic energy and that the Bubble Tiger had been fusing lunar energy into its body enough that it could be considered an evolved aural beast. So with this in mind, shouldn't it have gone to her mind space?